Chapter 6: Realisation (2/2)
”Satte!” Ordering with a desperate voice, Irea's eyes flashed with the shadows of terror. But before Layn could even react, she followed into the battle. Despite the terrific shaking of her body, her tearing-up eyes, she jumped towards her colleagues.
”The hell?!” Finally managing to shake the shock of what just happened to himself, Layn instantly sprung back towards the battle. In this newly formed body of his, something that would cause him a huge pain in the back was now an easy feat.
But without any energy left, he couldn't reach the battlegrounds as quickly as the rest of the group.
So he was forced to watch the dramatic hell unfold right in front of his eyes.
After the initial moment of confusion, the firedog finally retaliated. In an instant, a blast wave exploded around him, shaking the nearest opponents out of it. With the flames the following suit, three of the ancients couldn't escape having their limbs scorched.
And that was enough for Layn to feel the familiar rush of adrenaline in his veins. Something that he still had in himself, ever since the days of participating in the legendary quest to take down the demon lord.
Stepping up his speed a bit, Layn finally reached the frontlines. With the wounded already pulled to the back, the group was in a clear retreat. At this point, even when both the leader and the Irea girl noticed Layn's stubborn return, they couldn't do anything about it. They already tried to save him, after he recklessly walked right into the jaws of this beast.
”Usa.” With just a single word on his lips, Layn walked directly into the body of the monster. Going as far as to decompose a small part of his being to get the mana for the quick approach, the archmage raised his head and touched the solid core of the monster.
And then it happened.
In an instant, his entire body stood in flames. But those were actually nothing but a visible, physical manifestation of the raging storm of energy coursing around the core stone of the monster. But it was also the moment when Layn realised that something was amiss.
What should be an easy task of swallowing all the rich energy of the monster, wasn't as simple as it should be. Or to be honest, it was actually hellishly hard!
Overwhelmed by the sudden realisation, Layn's body nearly exploded from the magical corrosion of his body. Even though he was desperately trying to absorb this formless energy into his aura, his means were just too small. The archmage was akin to a person standing in the middle of a raging river, trying to stop its flow by drinking it away.
”To think I would meet with such a powerful monster and perish in such a way…” With Layn's trembling lips sending his words through the air, something changed in the ancients. Even though he couldn't really see it, Layn was certain that some hearts beaten out a bit harder, some breaths turned into gasps.
Even though the group couldn't understand the words, the tone of his words passed the meaning around.
Layn's lips formed a gentle curve. ”... Or I think not!”
His eyes suddenly lit in a fit of craziness.
'Now it all makes sense!' Screaming in his mind, the archmage looked at the situation with his crazed state of mind all over his face. His fresh body was burning away from the powerful magical flames of the firedog. All of his muscles were about to dry and wither away. Not even a single shred of skin remained on his entire body, not even a single strand of hair.
But at this moment, it mattered not. The tortuous feeling of being skinned and burned alive, both from the outside and from the inside at the same time should put Layn in an extremely bad mood. But the reminding part of his lips… kept smiling.